This season's menswear places new twists on classic styles, with cheeky details and streamlined shapes
SLIMLINE SILHOUETTES, narrow shoulders and a certain insouciance when mixing formal with informal seems to sum up contemporary menswear. A cheeky hat adds a spot of mischief to a formal suit, a chunky knit takes the polished edge off a formal overcoat while a waistcoat is an adroit and dashing performer. Blame Pete Doherty for shaking things up, but sometimes a trend just has staying power.
Menswear has a whole lot of history behind it and even the coolest and most intelligent designers ransack the past for new consumers - Paul Smith and Thom Browne come to mind. Old dress codes are resurrected in novel and unexpected ways. Just think of the way tuxedos, which made their debut more than a century ago, have become a fashion item among today's twenty- somethings, worn with jeans, T-shirts and a hip attitude. In Milan last week, buyers were seeing the tux worn with jog pants as the latest in cool, and some were even predicting the return of the dickie bow as a fashion item.
Unlike women, most men don't like clothes that look brand new, preferring the comfort and safety of something that looks tried and tested rather than straight from the shop rail, a view endorsed by Paul O'Connor, Brown Thomas menswear buyer. "Classic styles are always being reinvented. Alexander McQueen, for example, mixes traditional fabrics with leopard print collars - it's that little twist that counts. Details are important."
For winter, pea coats, trench coats, the double-breasted short coats - all those familiar masculine contours - are being tweaked again. Deconstructing formality or dressing down is what stylist David Brittain, who also models in this shoot, attempted to do with everything from a TopShop coat for €100 to a Burberry cashmere costing more than €1,000, adding the telling touches that keeps the look fresh but never flashy.